A/N: I know things are progressing really slowly, but that's the way things have to be for a while. Ron's still a boy, which automatically means he's clueless. And Harry finally gets a clue. Took him long enough.

"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident." (Arthur Schopenhauer)

On the whole, Ron reflected, things were going rather nicely for him right now.

For starters, they'd won that match against Hufflepuff. Ginny had done an excellent job as Chaser, scoring practically half the goals, Ron hadn't let Hufflepuff score once, a new record for him, and Harry had managed to pull off the Wronski Feint without ploughing straight into the ground. And he'd caught the Snitch.

Second, Ron was getting the hang of balancing fun with his duties as Prefect. Just yesterday, he'd given detention to two Gryffindor boys who'd gotten into a fight over exactly who owned a rather risqué picture of Kathryn MacDonald, the singer. Ron had also confiscated the picture and turned it in to McGonagall. (Hermione had been nearby, and it wouldn't have done to sneak the picture into his robes. Pity, that.)

Third, Malfoy had been sulking around the castle as usual, but hadn't said a word to Ron in a while. Which was a good thing for both the git and for Ron, as Ron had a feeling it wouldn't be seemly for one prefect to try to beat another prefect into a pulp. Not to mention that McGonagall would go apoplectic.

Ron's grades were going nicely, as well. For the first time in, well, ever, he actually knew what was going on in Charms. Not to mention that Potions wasn't going half badly either. Snape hadn't been able to find one bad thing to say about his latest Growing Potion, which was a first. Ron and Harry relished the irate look on the Professor's face as he tried to think of a nasty remark, couldn't, and then stomped off to bully Neville.

And then there was Luna.

Ron smiled a bit as he thought of her. Their picnic had gone really well, and they'd taken to hanging out together a lot. Of course, Ron had a busy schedule, what with prefect meeting and Quidditch, and so did Luna, what with all the work the teachers piled on in fifth year. Ron shuddered as he thought of the O.W.Ls. Was he ever glad to get that nightmare over with. Of course, now he had the N.E.W.T.S to look forward to in seventh year. Oh, what fun that would be.

But back to Luna…

He was losing count of the number of times that Parvati and Lavender had come up to him, asking whether Ron and Luna were dating or not.

"We're not dating," Ron said firmly.

Parvati tutted in a way that reminded Ron strongly of Hermione. She  must have been rubbing off on Parvati. "Well, either you're leading her on, or you're dating."

"I'm not leading her on," Ron objected.

"Then you're dating," Lavender said calmly, as if she was an expert on the subject. "Or you could be just friends…"

Ron considered. "I—we aren't just friends, but…"

"Then you're dating," Lavender told him. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity. "Have you kissed her yet?"

"What?" Ron stared down at the two of them. "That's—that's none of your bloody business!"

"No need to swear, Ron," Parvati said in a superior tone. "We were just asking."

Ron frowned and ruffled his hair. Was he dating Luna? He wouldn't call what they did dating…they didn't kiss, they didn't even hold hands…but he wouldn't call it friendship either.

So what were they?

He'd thought about asking Harry, but Harry was really busy coming up with plays for practice and Occulmency with Dumbledore. Ron didn't feel too comfortable asking Ginny, since she was his baby sister and Luna's friend. And as for Hermione…

Ron paled at the thought of asking Hermione. No. No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. There was no way he was going to discuss this with her of all people. That was just—insane. Of all the worst ideas ever thought of, this was right at the top of the heap.

"Ron?"

Ron turned to see Luna walking quickly towards him, carrying her bookbag. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Ron said, forcing himself to sound normal. Things with Luna were good as they were. Why did he have to over-analyze everything? He hated when Hermione did that, so why couldn't he just leave a good thing alone?

"Hey, how did Transfiguration go?" he asked, remembering that Luna had commented on it earlier.

"Oh, it went quite well," Luna said. "I got the theory pretty quickly…"

~*~

Later on in the dormitory, Ron couldn't help but notice that Dean was casting him these nervous sideways glances as they got ready for bed.  Finally Ron said, "Dean? What is it?"

Dean flashed him a nervous smile. "Oh, nothing."

"Dean, you've been staring at Ron all night like you want to tell him something," Harry commented, not looking up from his letter. "I don't think it's nothing."

"Well…y'see…the thing is…"

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," Seamus muttered, looking thoroughly exasperated. "Ron, Dean wants to date Ginny and he's asking for your approval so you don't hex him into next Tuesday." He looked at Dean. "There. See how easy that was?"

Dean glared at Seamus. "Shut up!" he hissed.

"Let me see if I've got this straight," Ron said slowly, his eyebrows nearly meeting his hairline. "You want to date my baby sister?"

"You can't really blame him, Ron," Seamus said helpfully. "There are a lot of guys who'd want to date her. I don't know if you've noticed, but…your sister's gorgeous." He looked at Harry, who had stopped writing his letter and was listening. "Isn't she, Harry?"

Ron looked over at Harry, curious as to his response. Did Harry actually think Ginny was, in Seamus's words, 'gorgeous'?

Harry's eyes grew huge as he realized that everyone was now waiting for his answer. "Well, I—I haven't really thought about it, to tell you the truth."

"Oh, come off it, Harry," Seamus scoffed. "Haven't you been spending practically ever summer with the Weasleys? And in all this time, you never once noticed that Ginny's got a very nice set of—"

"Watch it!" Ron ordered, throwing a pillow at Seamus and hitting him in the face. "That's my little sister you're talking about, you wanker," he said, glaring.

"Sorry, mate, but it's the truth," Seamus said, shrugging. He looked at Harry, incredulous. "Are you really telling me that you never noticed? Not even once?"

Ron and Dean waited for Harry's answer.

Harry was blushing by this point. "She's—she's Ron's sister!" he spluttered.

Ron wondered what that had to do with anything. He wouldn't mind if Harry decided to fancy his sister, and he didn't think anyone else in the family would either. Fred and George would tease them a lot though…

Seamus obviously agreed with Ron, as he said, echoing Ron's thoughts, "So? What's that got to do with anything? If I'd been in your position mate, I would have asked her out ages ago."

Dean cleared his throat. "So, anyway, Ron? Is it all right if I go out with Ginny?"

"Hmm?" Ron asked, distracted. He wrinkled his nose. "Oh, all right, I guess. But no funny business, and if I hear you've hurt her in any way, I'll sick Fred and George's prototypes from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes on you."

Dean grinned, clearly relieved. "Great!" he said, falling back onto his bed. "Let me tell you Ron, you have no idea how nervous I was about this. I was terrified that Creevey bloke would take her out before I got a chance to—"

"Creevey?" Ron and Seamus said in unison.

"That little fifth year who's always scurrying around taking pictures?" Seamus asked.

"Colin Creevey fancies my little sister?" Ron asked.

Dean nodded, sitting up. "Yeah, him, and I think there are others…hang on, let me see if I remember the members of her fan club…well, other members…"

"There are more?" Ron croaked. "Since when is Ginny so popular with the boys?"

"Since everyone realized how attractive she is," Seamus said, exasperated. "Lord, Ron, haven't you been listening to me?"

"Right then, I've got their names," Dean said. "You want to hear them?"

Ron had a feeling he was going to regret this, but… "Sure."

"Anthony Goldstein, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and isn't there something going on with Neville?" Dean asked.

"No," Ron said, glad to know he was on sure footing with this one. "George asked Ginny about that over the summer and she insisted that they were just friends."

Dean shrugged. "Less competition for me," he said. "Let me think…I'm pretty sure I've seen Ernie MacMillan goggling at her when he thinks no one's looking, not too subtle about it though, really needs to work on that…"

"Bet you could give him a few pointers, eh, Dean?" Seamus said, grinning slyly.

Dean grinned in an embarrassed way but didn't deny it.

"Oh, sick," Ron said, disgusted. Didn't they realize they were talking about his little sister?

Harry, by this point, had abandoned his letter and was listening, and quite avidly, in Ron's opinion.

"I know I'm forgetting someone," Dean muttered, frowning. He snapped his fingers. "Got it. How could I have forgotten? Blaise Zambini."

Ron blinked, sure he'd heard Dean wrong. "Did you just—Blaise Zambini?" he croaked.

Harry looked just as shocked. "The Blaise Zambini in Slytherin? That Blaise Zambini? Dean, are you sure?"

Dean nodded, and Seamus whistled.

"Huh," Seamus said. "Have to hand it to the bloke…he's got good taste, even if he is in Slytherin."

"I don't believe this," Ron muttered. "A Slytherin fancies Ginny? But she's a Weasley! She's in Gryffindor!"

"And she's also turned into quite a looker," Seamus said. "Can't really blame him, Ron."

"This is just not right," Ron muttered, falling back onto his bed. "What next, Malfoy?"

Seamus chortled at that. "At the rate things are going, that might be an actual possibility."

"Oh God," Ron moaned. "Oh God."

"Calm down, Ron," Dean said. "Malfoy doesn't fancy Ginny. He hates the lot of you too much for putting his dad in jail."

"Well, that's something," Ron said. He chanced a glance at Harry. "Can you believe this?"

Harry shook his head. "I can't believe any of this," he told Ron.

Seamus snorted. "That's because you were too busy mooning over Cho Chang to realize what half the school already has, that Ron's baby sister has turned into one of the best-looking girls at Hogwarts."

"Half the school?" Ron and Harry echoed at the same time.

"He's exaggerating," Dean said. "Ron, half the school does not want to have their way with Ginny—"

Ron clapped his hand over his ears. "Cut it out!" he moaned pitifully. "I've heard enough to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. What are you gits trying to do, scar me for life?"

Seamus howled at that, while Dean and Harry grinned at him. Ron had a disturbing thought. What if Dean wanted to—?

"And one more thing, Thomas," Ron said darkly, wagging his finger at Dean, "if I hear any rumors about you trying to 'have your way' with Ginny, I'll chop you into bits and feed you to the giant squid myself. Or I'll just hand you over to Fred and George." He stared at his index finger in surprise. Since when had he turned into his mum?

But to get back to the point, Dean looked quite frankly terrified by these threats. Which wasn't a bad thing, in Ron's opinion. The more afraid Dean was of pissing off Ron, the less likely he was to act like anything less than a perfect gentleman around Ginny.

"This is insane," Harry muttered, shaking his head slightly. "Absolutely mad."

"What's so insane about it?" Dean asked.

Seamus butted in, as he consistently had throughout the night. "Hey now, just because you've been blind all this time, Harry—"

"I am not blind," Harry objected, sounding a bit annoyed. "I just don't see her in that way. Is it so odd that I don't fancy her the way Dean does?"

"No," Seamus said. "It's just odd that you didn't even notice her at all when you spend so much time around her…she's on the team with us, for crying out loud…"

Harry shook his head and picked up his letter. "I'm out of here. This is just too weird…" Harry walked out of the room, shaking his head.

"What's with him?" Seamus wondered.

Ron shrugged and got up, deciding to follow Harry. He was bored, and not exactly in the mood to listen to Seamus go on about how gorgeous Ginny had turned out.

~*~

"Ron? What are you doing up?"

Ron turned to see Hermione sitting on a couch by the fire, staring at him. Her hair was even wilder than usual, which was something Ron didn't think was possible.

"What are you doing up?" Ron whispered back.

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. You?"

Ron grinned. "I was going to go after Harry. Did you see him?"

"Yes," Hermione said. "He just walked out of here really fast. Looked like he had something on his mind…is anything wrong?"

Ron grinned and impulsively sat down next to her on the couch. "Harry finally figured out that my sister's a girl. It only took him five years," Ron said, laughing, "but better late than never, right?"

Hermione giggled at that. A part of Ron wondered why it was that when Parvati or Lavender giggled, it drove him barking mad, but when Hermione or Luna did, he didn't mind. In fact, he thought it was positively cute.

He turned that thought over in his mind. Maybe it was because Parvati and Lavender giggled so much that it was grating. Yeah, that was it.

Hermione sighed. "It's a good thing Ginny gave up on him. Harry's my friend, but he can be an idiot sometimes."

"You really think so?"

"What, about Harry being an idiot?"

"No, about Ginny giving up on him."

Hermione looked at him, slightly surprised. "You don't?"

Ron shrugged, putting his feet up on the table. "I dunno. I guess I wouldn't mind if they started dating. It'd be better than her going out with prats I don't even know. Not that Dean's a prat…" he added, half to himself.

"Oh, so Dean talked to you?" Hermione asked lightly.

"Yeah, he—wait." Ron stared at her, incredulous. "You knew?"

Hermione shrugged. "Well, yes. Ginny didn't think Dean would actually ask for your permission, but I knew there was something going on. Ginny told me."

"At least Dean's better than that Corner prat. Can't think what that guy sees in Cho Chang, anyway," Ron muttered.

"She's pretty," Hermione said. "Most guys don't seem to care about anything but that."

"Wait a minute," Ron objected. "Not all guys. Not me at least."

Hermione looked at him in that superior way of hers that he hated. "Oh, really? What about Fleur Delacour?"

"One word, Hermione: Lockhart."

Hermione promptly turned red and swatted him on the arm. Ron rubbed it in mock-outrage. "The future Head Girl abusing her fellow prefect and star of the Quidditch team? Have you no shame?"

"Oh, be quiet," Hermione ordered, but she was smiling.

Ron thought suddenly just what Luna would think if she saw the two of them here together like this. It wasn't like they were doing anything wrong, really, but Ron did realize how it looked: the two of them, sitting in the dark next to each other, whispering.

Oh, sod it all, anyway. He wasn't doing anything wrong, and it had been a while since things had been so normal with Hermione. It was like things had gone back to the way they'd used to be.

Ron was so wrapped up in his reasoning that he failed to realize Hermione was trying to talk to him until she poked him in the head.

"Hey!"

"You weren't listening. And keep it down, or you'll wake everyone up."

Unable to think of a response, Ron stuck his tongue out at her.

"Oh, that's really mature, Ron," Hermione said very sarcastically. "Anyway," her voice softened, "do you really mean that? About not dating Cho?"

"Course," Ron said promptly. "I mean, she's nice and all, but she's a bit of a whiner. Not that she doesn't have a fair bit to complain about, what with Cedric and all, but come on—crying because Ginny got the Snitch before she did? Now, I may not be an expert on girls—"

"Definitely not."

Ron ignored this, "—but I know not all girls are like that. I mean, Ginny's not like that, Luna's not like that," Hermione stiffened slightly beside him, "and you're not like that, so I don't know what Cho's deal is. I'm just not into girls who cry at the drop of a hat. Besides, Harry's my best friend. I'm not going to go after the girl he used to fancy. That's just not on."

"And of course, there's Luna," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "There's Luna."

There was a pause. Hermione was staring at her hands as if they had suddenly developed some disgusting fungus.

They both stared at the fire. It was—soothing, just sitting there with Hermione. Not fighting about anything—although that was kind of fun too. Kind of like when Ron was around Luna, only not at all—Ron realized he was making no sense, not even to himself, and decided to stop that train of thought.

"Do you…do you want to just sit here for a while?" Ron asked quietly.

"Okay," Hermione said.

So they sat their in the near-darkness, and just watched the fire burn.